As we wind down yet another year, looking back at where we’ve come from and what we’ve done is always interesting.

January 2021 found us in the midst of house remodeling. The bathrooms were being finished, but taking longer than expected due to delays in manufacturing and shipping. The drywall work was a series of misadventures that finally had a successful conclusion. The walls were all painted and a railing erected next to the steps in the front yard.

Meanwhile, our country was in month ten of the “two weeks to flatten the curve”. Many of us understood that none of the lockdowns, vaccines or masks were going to stop a virus from what it naturally does which is infect hosts until they build immunity. However, many others had not come to that conclusion and enough continued to comply so that more and more restrictions continued to be added as the year went on.

I continued with my original plan, which was to get the house ready to sell by Springtime. To that end, I hired someone to clean up the yard and mulch as well as do the weekly mowing and trimming. Robert and I packed and moved as many boxes as possible out of the house and into storage. I was able to list the house in April and accepted an offer in May.

By May, I was dealing with debilitating arthritis pain in the base of my right thumb. I decided to go for surgery and had it operated on the week before Memorial Day. We spent Memorial Day weekend in Cook’s Forest at a lodge. Even though it was cold and rainy, we managed to get out and enjoy the area a little by visiting local artists shops, going to local restaurants and even just staying in the room, lighting the gas fireplace and reading.

In June, we traveled to Tennessee to find a house to rent. We discovered that the rest of the country realized what a gem Tennessee is and the rental market was tight and much more expensive than it had been a year before. We found a lovely house just west of Knoxville that we rented. And made our first friends in the area when we met the landlords – a husband and wife who we found we have a lot in common with.

Back in Pittsburgh, I continued my hand rehab while we finished packing up the house.

The move was an adventure, some of which we brought on ourselves by trying to save some money. I had begun working with Mayflower and it seemed to be getting very expensive. So we called around and ended up booking with a Moving Broker who required a large deposit. We agreed and paid them, only to find out a week before our move that we had been scammed. We found that they were trying to raise the price and have us pay in advance. And also found many reviews online indicating that they were no shows for many moves and never delivered other people’s belongings. We had to scramble and while we had planned to load and drive a small Uhaul truck, we switched to a twenty six foot Uhaul truck. We also found local crews to load the Uhaul in Pittsburgh and unload it in Knoxville.

Moving day come in July and we picked up the Uhaul truck and got it back to the house. The moving crew showed up. About halfway through loading the truck, the guys explained that everything was not going to fit and suggested we go rent another Uhaul truck and they would load it, rent a storage unit (we got one free with the truck rental) and then they would unload at the storage unit. We ended up doing that and now had two storage units with belongings in them – the one that we had been loading up all winter and the one from the day of the move.

By the end of the day, our cleaning ladies had come in and cleaned the house and we headed off to our hotel room and some dinner.

Did I mention that we had also arranged to have both of our cars transported to Knoxville. Pickup was early the next morning. We got up early and headed to the house to meet the car transport. He was running a few hours late due to construction and traffic. Finally got the cars loaded and him on his way. We stopped at our favorite breakfast spot Kelly O’s for a last breakfast, purchased a mug as a souvenir, made a stop at the storage unit to pick up a few things and headed to Knoxville.

Robert did not enjoy driving a truck that large, but he did a fantastic job. Well there was the incident at our hotel in Knoxville. Robert pulled through in front of the hotel and cut the turn a little too close. He ran over a post that was there to protect the stone wall from being hit. Yep he hit that too. We got him out of there and found a place to park the truck. Told them about the damage at the hotel, where they had no idea what to do about it because nobody had ever told them when they hit the pole and knocked it over in the past.

Robert got the truck to the house, I drove my car and picked up some supplies and got to the house before Robert. The movers showed up at about the same time as Robert and they made short work unloading the truck.

We got started unpacking, cleaning and wiping things down in the house, and putting shelf paper inside cabinets. Within a few days, the house was starting to look livable.

Three days after we moved in and while we were still unpacking, starting back to work, and getting our internet hooked up I slipped and fell, fracturing the bone in my wrist right below the bone that was removed during the arthritis surgery two months prior. We were off to the ER and then found the orthopedic surgeon in the area who specializes in hand and upper extremities.

I had arranged with Mayflower to transport all of the items that were in the two storage units back in Pittsburgh. So a few weeks after moving to Knoxville, we drove back to Pittsburgh to have the rest of our belongings packed into a truck. About a week later, everything was delivered. We had them put the furniture in the rooms we wanted it in and all the boxes were put in the garage. By this time, we had decided we were not unpacking everything and only keeping out what we needed to live since we are looking to purchase a house. I didn’t want to repack everything in a year. So we rented another storage unit and were selective in what we unpacked, putting all the empty boxes and anything we left packed in the storage unit.

By September, we had settled in and were starting to realize we now lived in Tennessee. We were also very stressed having taken no vacation other than for moving. That’s when we both realized we needed to get away. I did some research and came up with a beach vacation to Tybee Island, GA. Neither of us had even heard of it before. I found a B&B that looked nice, booked it and off we went for a week at the beach mid-October.

We absolutely loved Tybee Island. It has really nice beaches, restaurants and bars, and lots of little artist shops. It is laid back and the locals are very friendly. Our hosts at the B&B were amazing people. We got to talking and again found like minds that we could enjoy time with. The owner’s husband even took us out on his boat to give us a tour of the island from the water. We returned to Knoxville tanned and relaxed.

You would think by October, the year was winding down. Nothing left except the upcoming holidays, right? Wrong!

Right before Thanksgiving, Robert was laid off from his job. The company claimed a downturn in business, but we know it was more of a philosophical difference with his boss. You see, a few days before our vacation, they had an IT security incident. Most of you know that Robert was an IT Security Manager. He helped to find and stop the incident and begin remediation. It was a tense couple of days and was under control by Friday afternoon. At the end of the day on Friday, Robert’s boss told him he’d like him to cancel his vacation and work the following week. Robert declined. Two weeks later he no longer had a job.

You would think this is a bad thing losing your job right before the holidays. But Robert and I had a plan. We had been working towards starting our own business. We knew what we wanted to do and were doing research and putting things in place to start up the new business. When Robert got laid off, we sat down and talked and decided this was the right time to go full force into the business instead of Robert searching for yet another job in the IT industry. He has jumped in with both feet. I continue to work my job, although if the business goes as planned, I will hopefully retire from IT in the near future as well. Look for lots of news about our startup in early 2022.

Thanksgiving found us having a quiet dinner as Robert wasn’t feeling well. I had a long weekend off and we talked about our business as well as personal lives. By the end of the weekend, we had decided that it was time to take a big leap in our relationship.

On December 10^th, we got married. We decided to keep it low key and didn’t tell anyone until the last minute. And some people didn’t find out until after the fact. We applied for our marriage license with the county clerk, booked Gatlinburg’s Little Log Wedding Chapel’s Elopement Package, booked a night at Bella Villa Bed & Breakfast (where we had stayed this past summer) and made dinner reservations at the Greenbriar Restaurant in Gatlinburg (where we had a nice meal last year when we were in the area). The wedding chapel provided the minister, the photographer and the flowers for the wedding. All we had to do was take our marriage certificate, get dressed and show up. It was awesome! The minister performed a lovely ceremony, and we are still waiting to see the photos. It takes a few weeks before they post them.

Christmas was another quiet event. I made some of the traditional fish for Christmas Eve dinner to honor my Dad’s memory. And Robert made us a lovely baked ziti for Christmas Day dinner. I always celebrate Christmas Day with mimosas and relaxation.

New Year’s eve is just a few days away. We’re winding down a year that was eventful in so many ways. I can’t wait to see what 2022 is going to bring!

To all our friends and family: We wish you a very Happy New Year!